


Transylvanian Night Horrors

by Reed_Zone_Alert (Eliza_Reed)



Series: In the Wampire Hall of Fang, Yeah [1]
Category: Count Duckula
Genre: Angst, Based on a real life experience, Duckula Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear, Fear of Death, Finally a mostly wholesome moment between these two, Hurt/Comfort, I don't consider the comics canon, Sorry Igor is kinda OOC in this but I needed both myself and my green bean to have some comfort, i was really tired when i wrote this, i wrote this mainly for myself, ticks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25107916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliza_Reed/pseuds/Reed_Zone_Alert
Summary: In one swift motion, he had the sheets off and was scurrying silently down the hall towards the nearest bathroom. He leapt inside and quickly shut the door behind him, flipping on the light switch at the same time. “I thought ItoldNanny more than once to get rid of those dang bedbugs,” Duckula muttered to himself as he pulled his pajama top up over his head. He tossed it onto the counter and started at the sight that awaited him as he looked in the mirror. Well, there was the obvious fact that he couldn’t see himself in the mirror. But that was something he was used to. What the Countwasn’tused to was the sight of a large, strange-looking bug apparently suspended in mid-air- at least that’s what he saw from his reflection (or rather, his lack of). He whipped his head down and gasped as his eyes locked onto the bug, which had apparently fastened itself to his chest and was biting him.And it was definitely not a bed bug.
Relationships: Count Duckula & Igor (Count Duckula)
Series: In the Wampire Hall of Fang, Yeah [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818502
Kudos: 6





	Transylvanian Night Horrors

_11:25 AM Eastern Transylvanian Time._

“Nghhh…” A certain emerald green duck, clad in his usual pajamas, cringed sleepily as his body practically forced open his eyes. Alarms were ringing in his head, telling him something was wrong- the problem was that he didn’t know what. Duckula lifted his weary head and began muttering to himself. “I don’t hear Igor grumbling, or Nanny breaking anything…” He sat up further and yawned, wincing as a joint in his beak popped painfully. “Ow.” The Count then scratched his chest, which he had just noticed was really itchy. Like _really_ itchy. As he did, he could feel a small, strangely-shaped lump underneath the cloth. Odd. Since when was his chest _lumpy?_ Something twisted in Duckula’s stomach ominously, though for what reason he wasn’t certain of.

In one swift motion, he had the sheets off and was scurrying silently down the hall towards the nearest bathroom. He leapt inside and quickly shut the door behind him, flipping on the light switch at the same time. “I thought I _told_ Nanny more than once to get rid of those dang bedbugs,” Duckula muttered to himself as he pulled his pajama top up over his head. He tossed it onto the counter and started at the sight that awaited him as he looked in the mirror. Well, there was the obvious fact that he couldn’t see himself in the mirror. But that was something he was used to. What the Count _wasn’t_ used to was the sight of a large, strange-looking bug apparently suspended in mid-air- at least that’s what he saw from his reflection (or rather, his lack of). He whipped his head down and gasped as his eyes locked onto the bug, which had apparently fastened itself to his chest and was biting him.

And it was definitely not a bed bug.

Duckula let out a shrill yelp and clawed at the thing frightfully, trying to rip it off. After a couple of tries, he had finally managed tear the bug off of his chest- and took a good chunk of skin and feathers with it too. Without so much as a thought, he threw the horrible creature across the bathroom and broke down, lifting up his hands to cover his face as the first round of sobs came. He could already feel the literal flood of blood dripping down from the hole in his chest and staining his pajama pants. After a moment of this, he finally got some degree of control over his sobs and opened the bathroom door. Should he go to Nanny? No, he probably shouldn’t. For one he didn’t want to worry her, and two, he’d rather not get his bones crushed in one of her massive, suffocating hugs.

So Duckula begrudgingly set his sights on Igor’s bedroom. While he didn’t trust the vulture not to somehow use this to try and turn him into a “proper” Count Duckula, it wasn’t as if he had many options. In fact he only had three. The third option was simply to say nothing and go back to bed, but he was too afraid- suppose more of those things were hiding in his bed right now, waiting until he fell asleep before making their pounce? And what if it was venomous? What if he _didn’t_ wake up the next morning?

All these questions grating painfully in his head drove him to walk towards Igor’s room. He didn’t bother knocking, and simply opened the door. It was ominously pitch black inside, but that was Igor for you. “Igor?” Duckula called softly. The only noise the greeted him was the sound of his butler snoring loudly from the bed. He moved closer to the aforementioned bed and laid a hand on Igor’s arm. At least the young waterfowl was sure it was his arm- it was hard to tell in the dim light from the hallway. In any case, he gently shook the butler’s arm. “Igor, wake up.”

Igor’s snoring ceased and after a moment, a deep and drowsy voice replied dryly, “You woke me, m’lord?”

“Yeah,” Duckula said quietly. “Igor, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Such as the reason for your waking me? Sir, if this is about another one of your night terrors, I am certain Nanny-”

“Igor, not now- okay? Please, don’t do this now.” The Count’s voice sounded… very distressed. More so than usual. Igor lifted his head and looked towards the smaller bird, blinking slowly as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. There was something in Duckula’s expression that set Igor on edge.

“M’lord? Are you alright?”

Duckula was silent for a long moment, and- right when the butler was sure he wasn’t going to get a response- he said, “I don’t know.” He went on after another, shorter moment, “Can you… I need you to look at something. Can you follow me to the bathroom?” Igor gave a silent nod in response, sitting up slowly and wincing as several joints in his body popped painfully. Duckula waited patiently, his smaller frame trembling imperceptibly as adrenaline coursed through his veins.

Within a minute or so, they were in the bathroom. Duckula closed the lid of the toilet and sat down, waiting as Igor shut the door quietly. The vulture turned around and saw the blood still streaming from the hole in his Master’s chest. “M’lord, what have you done to your-”

“A bug bit me,” Duckula interrupted, seconds away from crying again. He struggled to keep control as he went on, “I… it… it was biting me there, a-and I think I pulled too hard on it, and…” Igor bent over as best as he could and took a closer look at the Count’s damaged flesh, meanwhile grabbing the roll of toilet paper and ripping off a good-size piece. He wiped away the blood gently- which wasn’t very gentle at all, as Duckula was now biting his lower beak in pain. “Igor, am I gonna die?”

Igor stopped his wiping of the blood and looked up at his Master with a raised brow. “What sort of ‘bug’ was it?”

“Well…” Duckula paused in thought as he tried to remember what the thing looked like. He really shouldn’t have thrown it like he did, but then again, who in their right mind was going to be rational when they wake up in the middle of the night with a huge bug attached to their chest and biting them? “I don’t know exactly what was. It sure as heck wasn’t a bed bug. It was big-ish, and was kind of oval-shaped? Like an oblong oval? And it was fat. I don’t remember the colour- I think it was dark? Like a dark shade of… something.”

“And you pulling it out did this?” Igor gestured to the now mostly clean wound in Duckula’s chest as he threw away the now completely crimson red piece of toilet paper.

“Yeah,” Duckula replied weakly. “You didn’t answer my question.” Igor was quiet for a moment and his movements stilled- most likely he was thinking about something. The young waterfowl tried to be patient, but after a moment, he asked again, “Am I gonna die?”

“I find that extremely doubtful, m’lord,” Igor finally answered. “Come- let us go to the library. Perhaps we can finally put those encyclopedias of yours to use.”

“You were the one who bought them in the first place,” Duckula retorted, slipping off the toilet lid, his feet hitting the tile with a soft _thump_. “What are you planning to do, anyway?”

“I plan to do some research on this mystery bug, and see if perhaps we can shed some light on the matter,” Igor answered. After applying a bandage to the smaller bird’s chest, they steadily made their way to the library. Duckula kept close to his butler the whole way, and at one point yelped as thunder crackled loudly outside the castle. After taking a moment to calm his Master down a bit- which was rather difficult considering emotional comfort was definitely _NOT_ one of Igor’s strong suits- they resumed their trek. Once they reached the library, Igor pointed to a small cushioned chair and said, “Perhaps you should sit in the meantime, sir. This may take a while. It would be advisable if you tried to get some sleep as well.”

Duckula shook his head quickly as he sat down in the chair, his small body sinking slightly into the plushy cushions. “I don’t think I can, Igor,” he said quietly, tucking his legs up in front of him and hugging them, meanwhile settling his chin on his knees. “At least not right now.” Igor sighed tiredly and made his way to the large stacks of encyclopedias.

This was going to be a very long night.

* * *

_3:32 AM Eastern Transylvanian Time._

Contrary to his own expectations, Duckula did fall back asleep- only to be gently shaken awake by Igor. “M’lord? Wake up- I believe I may have found it.” The young Count blinked quickly, yawning and then rubbing his eyes. After a moment of this, he mumbled a question, but it was far too inaudible for his butler to pick up. “You will have to speak louder.”

Duckula straightened up in his chair, slowly waking up a little more, and repeated his query. “What’d you find, Igor?” Igor lifted up the book in his hands and pointed to a page. On it was a picture of a bug that looked very much like the one that had bitten him earlier that night. “‘Tick,’” he read aloud, shuddering as his mind replayed that horrific moment when he first discovered the thing on his person. “‘Scientific name: Ixodida,’” he continued to read, “‘higher classification: Parasitiformes.’” He stopped, and then lifted his head to meet Igor’s gaze. “You mean that _thing_ \- it was- it- my- it was sucking my-”

“Indeed it was, m’lord,” Igor told him. “Rather quite fascinating, really-” He stopped when Duckula gave him _that_ look, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. “In any case, I do not believe you have anything to worry about- from the amount of damage you caused yourself in pulling it out, I do not believe the head is still inside.”

“I’m sorry, the _what?”_

Igor didn’t seem to hear and went on, “Still, it would not hurt to check, in order to be absolutely certain. As to the possibility of Lyme disease-”

 _“LYME DISEASE?!?!”_ Duckula shrieked, scrambling to his feet and tugging on his hair as panic started to take control. “Did you say _Lyme-”_

Igor cut him off with a firm hand on the shoulder and explained, “Sir, if it was a large tick as you described, then I do not believe you have anything to worry about. Those are less likely to carry Lyme disease, or any of the other diseases listed in the encyclopedia.”

Duckula sat back down on the chair, sinking into the cushions again. “Maybe I should go see the doctor in the morning…”As much as Igor did not like the idea of his Master visiting the doctor _at all,_ he decided not to say anything on the matter. It wasn’t as if the Count ever listened to him anyway, and if the visit helped to assuage his fears, then it may be for the best. The sooner they got back on track with things, the better. The sound of Duckula’s voice abruptly cut through his butler’s train of thought. “Igor?”

“Hmm? What is it?” Igor focused his gaze back on the young Master.

“I don’t want to go back to bed,” Duckula said, now looking down at his hands, twiddling his thumbs unconsciously. “I was wondering if maybe… ummm… well, if we could stay up? Just a little longer? Maybe put on a movie or something, just to… well, you know, distract me?” Igor found the concept of watching a movie with the Count absolutely repulsive- he never put on anything even remotely bloody. It was always some silly little children’s flick, with obnoxiously annoying characters with even more obnoxiously annoying _voices_. However, this was a particularly unusual and distressing (more so for Duckula) situation for the both of them, and he couldn’t find it in his mostly cold and dead heart to refuse his Master this time around.

Just this once, he would let Duckula have his way. “Very well, m’lord. If you insist.”

* * *

_5:46 AM Eastern Transylvanian Time._

Duckula was peacefully asleep, cuddled up against Igor’s side, his breathing slow and even. It had been ten minutes after the movie had ended, and despite this… despite the fact that he really didn’t want Nanny to start her morning dusting and find them like this, Igor didn’t have it in him to disturb the Count’s well-deserved rest. The vulture sighed quietly, lifting an arm and settling it awkwardly around the smaller bird’s shoulders.

After about ten minutes or so, he too eventually fell fast asleep. 

And when Nanny got up that morning to start dusting things (a noisy and rather expensive process where she was concerned) and saw the two of them cuddled up on the couch, snoring peacefully, she couldn't help but smile happily. Her little Duckyboos and Mr. Igor looked very cute snuggled up like that. 

Of course, when she informed Igor of this when he finally woke up, he was absolutely mortified.

_ THE END, and good night out there- WHATEVER YOU ARE. _


End file.
